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InvenSense, a provider MEMS based sensor solutions, announced this week that it has signed definitive agreements to acquire Movea, a sensor fusion and context awareness software company, and Trusted Positioning (TPI), an indoor and outdoor location tracking software firm. InvenSense will pay approximately $81 million for acquisition of both firms. As of March 2014, InvenSense had approximately $117 million in cash and equivalents, so the transaction amount involved in these acquisitions will significantly reduce the company’s cash reserves. On the other hand, some industry analysts have recently speculated that InvenSense may have won designs for the next generation of Apple’s products such as the iPhone 6, iWatch, and some of the new iPad business. Interestingly, these two deals were announced just one week after Audience’s announcement that it is acquiring Sensor Platforms, another sensor fusion and context awareness software firm, for $41 million.

Bosch, based in Germany, was the top supplier in the world last year of automotive MEMS sensors, a market in which shipments continue to expand strongly, but where revenue was being squeezed by marked price erosion, according to a new report from IHS. With revenues of $740 million, Bosch’s total amounted to more than three times the sales of its nearest competitor, Denso of Japan, which remained in second place, as in 2012. Together the top ten automotive MEMS suppliers accounted for $2.18 billion worth of revenue, equivalent to 88 percent of the industry total of $2.47 billion. In 2012, the top ten suppliers also had an 88 percent share with the combined revenue of $2.12 billion, out of an industry aggregate of $2.40 billion.

Even with the presence of the consumer electronics giant Samsung and a strong R&D community, Korea’s MEMS ecosystem remains quite small. Among the top MEMS makers, not a single one is based in Korea. However, because of Samsung’s increasingly strong presence in the consumer electronics business, as well as the country’s established high technology base, there may be compelling reasons for the Korean MEMS industry to grow in the near future. GMEMS, a small MEMS foundry, claims to be the only commercial production facility in Korea. We recently spoke with Dr. Scott Lee, the CEO of the company. In this interview, Dr. Lee presents an overview of some of the key MEMS companies and organizations in Korea, as well as the history, current status, and vision of his company.

X-FAB Silicon Foundries announced this week that it has reached a major milestone in further expanding its MEMS manufacturing capabilities in two of its German locations, Erfurt and Itzehoe. According to the company, driven by increased customer demand for MEMS manufacturing services, the expansion includes two new dedicated MEMS fabs with cleanroom space totaling more than 2,000 square meters (21,500 square feet). MEMS devices manufactured at X-FAB include pressure sensors, micro-mirrors, microphones and microfluidic devices used in mobile, consumer, medical and automotive applications. Customers requiring CMOS and MEMS solutions also benefit from access to X-FAB's existing CMOS wafer fabrication facilities.

The marketplace for MEMS foundry services is getting increasingly more competitive and globalized. Recently, large companies such as TSMC and GLOBALFOUNDRIES have been more aggressive in the MEMS space and, perhaps, are even subsidizing some projects to get more experience with the relevant process technologies. At the same time, intellectual property (IP) protection is becoming even more important due to the commoditization of some MEMS devices, especially in the consumer electronics segment. We recently spoke with Edvard Kälvesten, CEO of Silex Microsystems, to discuss his vision for the company, some of the recent changes that were made, his main concerns at this time, and the upcoming milestones for the company in the next few years.

DelfMEMS, a startup company that has been developing RF MEMS switching solutions, announced this week that the company has secured $7.4 million in round C funding. The company said that the new investment will be used to support the company's growth in the next generation, wireless front-end modules for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets that need multi-standard, multi-mode mobile telephony.

According to our research, the MEMS market for medical applications is currently approximately $2.1 billion, and is projected to grow at double digit rates for the next decade. Since MEMS based motion sensors for consumer applications are rapidly getting commoditized, medical MEMS may represent the most lucrative emerging opportunity for MEMS device designers and manufacturers. Tronics, a MEMS foundry services provider, is already manufacturing MEMS devices for several key players in the medical industry. The company says that it has made this market segment a priority and wants to grow its medical business to more than $20 million annually within three to five years. We recently spoke with Herve Borrel, Tronics’ President of North America.

Knowles Corporation, a leading supplier of advanced micro-acoustic solutions, announced this week the results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2014. Revenue for the first quarter of 2014 was $273.4 million, compared with $276.1 million reported in the same period one year ago. Gross profit for the first quarter of 2014 was $83.1 million compared with gross profit of $94.5 million reported in the same period one year ago. Net earnings for the first quarter of 2014 were $7.6 million compared with $11.9 million reported in the same period one year ago. Current period results include $10.7 million from amortization of intangibles, $9.1 million in production transfer costs and spin related charges and $1.5 million in stock-based compensation.

As average selling prices (ASPs) for sensors used in consumer electronics applications continue to drop, the competition among the top MEMS makers has intensified tremendously. One of the most recent examples of this trend has been the intellectual property dispute between ST and InvenSense, which the latter company agreed to settle with a payment of $15 million. Additionally, most of the industry analysts now project that while the number of motion sensors shipped for consumer electronics will continue to grow significantly, the revenues coming from these applications will essentially stay flat in 2014. We recently spoke with Behrooz Abdi, the CEO of InvenSense, about his perspectives on the recent industry trends, as well as his vision for the company, their recent market and financial results, and how they plan to stay competitive in the future.

MEMS microphones, used in best-selling devices like Apple's iPhone, face a promising future as the market is projected to keep climbing in the coming years, according to a new report from IHS. Global revenue for MEMS microphones is forecast to reach $1.04 billion this year, up a robust 24 percent from $837 million in 2013. Less than a decade was needed for the MEMS microphone market to cross the billion dollar threshold. While this year continues the galloping growth the industry has seen during the last few years, the rate of expansion is slowing as revenue has expanded. Even so, the next few years will continue to yield solid results for the business, and revenues by 2017 will amount to a projected $1.37 billion, equivalent to a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18 percent from 2012 to 2017. Shipments at the end of the forecast window will equal 5.4 billionunits, up from 1.9 billion in 2012.